Holiday Inn Express & Suites Bryant - Benton Area by IHG — Hotel in Bryant

My husband and I met our two young adult granddaughters here, got a room for us and one for them. We got a suite for us so we had room for everyone to relax, play games, etc. The room was fine, the girls had a great time at the pool, and the hotel is located near a mall and various places to eat, so all of these factors contributed to a good time. However, the issues we ran into were:

1. When we moved the table in our suite to make room for everyone around it, it looked like it hadn't been moved for vacuuming for a while, with dust and scrap paper behind the table leg.

2. My Rewards status, (Spire Elite) was never mentioned on check in, and when I got to the room I noted that my points balance was also not reflected on my key holder, so I had to go to the desk and ask if it had been noted and my bonus points given. That was not taken care of by the gentleman that checked us in, but was when I brought it to the attention of the lady who was at the desk when I returned.

3)We had a noisy family or two near us, making noise and with kids running around quite late. This disrupted our sleep, as well as our granddaughter's who were on the floor below them.

4. When I rated the friendliness of the staff, my rating was diminished due to a couple of incidents in addition to my rewards status being overlooked. The first instance was on our arrival. I stood at the desk waiting for someone to help me. As I was facing the desk I could see ahead and to my left a young man seated on a char or stool in the doorway of what may have been an office. He was engaged in conversation and either didn't see me or decided his conversation was more important than customer service. We had had a long trip, and this was annoying. When he did come to help he did not seem to be confident of what he was doing.

5. Our granddaughter's room was booked for two nights, ours was for three, but the keys to both were deactivated after the second night. When we used our key and it didn't work I went to the desk to get the key reactivated. A gentleman asked how he could help, and when I told him the key no longer worked, rather than checking on our reservation he immediately replied "It's after 11. That's checkout. It won't work after 11." I explained that our reservation was through the following morning, and a female standing nearby (Im so sorry I didn't catch her name, but she was very helpful), stepped up, asked for my name and room number, and reactivated the key after checking the computer. I wish this wasn't what happened next, but the gentleman who had rushed to judgment then turned and walked away, saying loudly "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" to sort of a sing-song tune. Seriously. I travel frequently for work, and have for many years and never once have I encountered such behavior. This guy needs to go back to customer service training. That experience alone soured an otherwise reasonably good experience. Your ladies were great, but at least a couple of the guys could use some professional polish.

All that said, I have stayed here several times before without any real issues. There is one issue outside the hotel's ability to control, and that is the construction going on around them. I keep thinking I will come back and the road work will be completed, but so far that has not been the case, so enter the road to the hotel carefully, as it has quite a dip...

I checked in to the hotel with Lovely. She show no positive customer service at all. She blankly gave me a room key. I unlocked the door and walked in to find the beds unmade and and people's things inside the room.

I went downstairs where I waited until Lovely finished her personal conversation with a guy and explained to her that someone was ALREADY in that room and asked for another one. With another blank face and no apology, she said ok here you go, another room. I had my friend on speakerphone for safety. My friend said, are you talking to anyone because I don't hear anyone saying anything to you, not even an apology. I said you are right and there was no apology given. Lovely, hearing my friend talk, says .. yeah sorry here is your new room key.

I go to the new room unlock the door and walk in. I looked to the left to find dirty towels on the sink. AGAIN. I closed the door and walked out. That's SOMEONE ELSE'S ROOM TOO!

I go back downstairs and wait AGAIN for her to finish a personal conversation with a different guy. He heard me tell her. I WANT A ROOM THAT I DONT HAVE TO SHARE WITH ANYONE ELSE BECAUSE I PAID FOR THAT! He started laughing and told her he was gone.

She again walked over to the desk and started tapping on the keyboard. She never looked up and only said... Imma have to change your room status. I said, "Does it have me in there as SHARE?" She said huh .. I said SHARE! Because you have given me 2 rooms where people are already staying in it. She said oh naw. I said I WANT A ROOM THAT IS ONLY FOR ME AND IM NOT GOING TO SHARE IT WITH ANYONE ELSE. IM NOT OKAY WITH STRANGERS HAVING MY ROOM KEY EITHER.

Again with no apology she said, oh yeah here you go. I go to the room and see it has double beds instead of the king bed that I asked for. Ugh!!

I go back downstairs and ask her... Did I pay for. Higher prices room and get a cheaper one. She said huh... I said you gave me a double bed room but I paid for a king bed room. Did I get more than what I paid for it less than what I paid for? She said no I changed your room status because the other 2 I gave you were NOT UP TO PAR FOR YOU...(🤔). I said not up to par? Look would you stay in a room that others are currently living in?? NO IT WAS NOT UP TO PAR!!! I then told her I don't share with strangers.

She said oh no my housekeeping just didn't clean them is all. Imma have a talk with them later. I just looked at her...

Warning: As a Top 10% IHG Diamond Member I know what the IHG standard is at any of their various properties. My concern about this property is that they no longer want to provide Reward Club members with recognition or upgrades even when they are available which does not honor the IHG Commitment to its most Loyal Customers in any way. When I checked into this location for this visit Anna said nothing about being a Reward Member, no option was offered in regards to amenity points upon check-in, and I was not provided with or even offered an upgrade? Being surprised, because quality properties do this automatically, when we arrived in the room we called back to inquire about this reward club benefit. Anna said that they would not upgrade us as they were anticipating renting the rooms. We called the dedicated Diamond representative and asked them to call the hotel on our behalf at which time Anna called back to our room to explain that rooms were selling fast and even though they currently had the rooms available that they were anticipating selling them later in the evening. Then she told us a few different contradictions: 1. That they would not upgrade our room for the entire 4 now night stay just a night or two and then we would have to change back to a basic room because they don't upgrade your entire stay (first time hearing that). 2. That they had provided us upgrades when we had stayed at the property in the past as if there was a limit of days or upgrades at this property for priority club members? 3. She said rooms were selling fast around the time we picked up our key (even though we checked in on the app the day before) so they didn't want to provide the upgrade that they should have assigned the day before. We filed a complaint with the priority club about this property which we had stayed at many times in the past. This experience has made us want to warn other Priority Club Members so that they are aware of this practice in the event that they have the option to choose a property that values its most Loyal Customers. What do they have to benefit by doing this other than to turn long term raving fans into displeased and upset customers by focusing on one time vs repeat customers? This had the opportunity to be a five star review if they would have simply done the...